


Why R+L= J

by Minita



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Jonsa meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:54:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28207167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Minita/pseuds/Minita
Summary: Just my ramblings about why the show’s ending for Jon feels so unsatisfying. Almost a meta. Jonsa rules
Relationships: Jon Snow/Sansa Stark
Comments: 15
Kudos: 38





	Why R+L= J

**Author's Note:**

> I humbly dedicate this to the wonderful meta writers of the Jonsa family you can find on tumblr. @dottydot is here but I don’t know if any other is

This is not an actual meta, just an attempt at organising my thoughts. Nearly two years later I still have tons of questions about the finale and what it says to us about GRRM’s ending, specially in light of R+L=J being a MAJOR plot point (angrily looking at you D&D) and why I think Jonsa is the reason for it.

I mention a couple of Jonsa meta authors here but there’s many more of course. Even if I don’t mention you by name I want you to know I admire all of you and I can’t wait to read your comments in this humble post.

 **Jon’s ending**.

We see Jon going back to the NW. There are two possibilities here. He either goes to the Wall as punishment for killing Daenerys or he goes willingly to help Bran. It can’t be both.

I know stabbing Daenerys should technically be punished in the universe, even if we think it’s justified. However, the only other infamous Kingslayer we know is Jaime, and Jaime was pardoned for killing the Mad King, and Aerys hadn’t burnt the entire city yet, while Daenerys had. Consider too that while Jaime had an specific oath to protect Aerys, Jon was not Daenerys’s guard, although he was expected to be loyal to her.

Others have pointed that it may be Arya that kills her, in which case, he would be taking the blame for her, an unfair punishment. Personally, his ending felt as if Jon were being punished for the sins of all the Targaryens before him, like a curse, and if so, then what’s the point of Jon’s arch at the Wall? What’s the point of him learning to lead? Coming back from the dead? That is not narratively satisfying and, it’s nihilistic.

Jon goes willingly as @fedonciadale and others have pointed out as a possibility, a “sacrifice” in the style of Aemon to bring peace to the realm, because he refuses to be used to plot against Bran. This makes a lot more sense to me as character arch, and it’s probably satisfactory at some level as it shows Jon is the opposite of everything the Targaryens are. The whole R+L=J is then resolved as a full circle, Jon’s parents romance (or kidnapping) “causing” the war becomes Jon’s personal sacrifice bringing peace. In the south he gives up his crown for his beloved Brandon and in the North for Sansa.

Winterfell belongs to my sister Sansa.

A dream of Spring.

The problem I have with this is that GRRM literally killed Jon to free him from his vows, so he is going to make him a King in the North, then a popular hero, (the man will fight the army of the dead for crying out loud!), then the true heir to the IT (I have my doubts he will be true born in the books, tbh) just to make him come back to where he started?

Again, narratively unsatisfying. But hey, it might happen.

 **Jon’s parentage**.

GRRM could have made Jon Ned’s bastard with Ashara and still he could have become a Lord Commander, a Long Night’s hero, a Queenslayer. But GRRM chose to make him Lyanna’s son.

What can possibly be the narrative justification for that?

 **If Jon is not to be King of the 7 kingdoms, what then it’s the purpose of R+L=J** ?

To make Daenerys mad.

It’s clear to me the show mixed fAegon with Jon, they even gave him the name (eye roll) and showed her to be paranoid of his claim and/or be jealous of the love of his people, or of his love and trust in Sansa (interesting choice, why not jealous of Jon’s love for Arya?), but let’s be honest, Jon’s parents are unlikely to have been married.

The whole annulment thing could be an invention of the show makers, (as the Night King and Sansa marrying Ramsay), or just the merge of Jon’s story line with fAegon’s. Jon might not have a claim that would threaten Daenerys. As for the love of his people...I love Jon but he’s certainly not beloved or even liked by tons of people in the South with armies that will support his claim.

He could still be a contender if he’s legitimatised, (I don’t see Daenerys giving him the Targ name but maybe fAegon would?) but if he stays a Snow, a bastard, he is less dangerous to Daenerys than fAegon, and has NO SUPPORT in the South. fAegon does.

I believe in the books fAegon will be the beloved candidate, and he would probably take KL before Daenerys. Show Cersei also was given Aegon’s elements like the Golden Company, for instance, and it will probably be him the people of KL will go to for protection.

So, to be clear, even if Jon were not a Targ, he could find other ways to piss Daenerys, and she will still find an excuse to burn KL.

Jon being a Targ is not essential to the story.

It is not essential to the story that Jon rides a dragon, he might not even ride one in the books. But IF he does...what would be the purpose of that? It’s clear that Jon will reject his Targaryen heritage in the end and Brandon will reveal R+L=J, not his dragon riding skills, so why bother?

It is not essential to the story that boat sex happens. SHE IS BARREN. As to the nature of Jon’s relationship with D I have no idea what that could be but I doubt book Jon is gonna go to her for dragonglass and end up with Stockholm syndrome and brain damage. Are you telling me that this MASSIVE secret from book/season 1 is just to get Jon to sleep with her? I refuse to believe accidental incest is the best George can come up with. I hope GRRM is a better writer than that.

I ask again: what is the purpose of R+L= J ?

So he can marry a woman that is not his sister anymore.

But how can he marry and have children if he’s going to the NW? There’s history of married men leaving their families willingly or as a punishment to join the NW. Jeor Mormont did, Slynt did, and Ned Stark would have if he hadn’t been killed. Jon could marry and have children BEFORE he goes or is sent to the Wall. Someone else has already pointed out this possibility of an “early” Jonsa marriage before the war against the dead, but I can’t remember who. Sadly, it will mean he would leave his wife and children behind to live at the Wall.

THIS is bittersweet. THIS fulfils his NW’s vows for the second time as he “takes no wife, fathers no children, holds no crown” but becomes the sword in the darkness that already protected Westeros from ice and fire. THIS is the answer to Catelyn’s fears he might usurp his true born siblings and ties the political and the familiar loose ends. It also ties nicely with Brandon’s arch and with Sansa’s arch. It rewards Ned’s sacrifice.

THIS is like a song.

To sum up:

Without Jonsa there is no purpose for R+L=J

Everything that happens in ASOIAF can still happen if Jon is Ashara’s son with Ned. He can still take Winterfell back, defeat the dead, get involved with and betray D.

Everything can still happen if he’s Sansa’s brother.

Everything.

But one thing. Jonsa.

 **Sansa’s ending**.

Can GRRM write Sansa as a “Virgin Queen” that never marries or has children? Sure he can, and maybe that’s what he’s gonna do, but, what then of all the foreshadowing of Sansa’s motherhood? Why bother discussing her first period or giving her the “Mother’s hymn”? She is a surrogate mother to Sweetrobin already for crying out loud!

And don’t even get me started on the political implications for the North if the line dies with her.

Now, could Sansa marry anyone else? Surely she can marry a minor lordling, right? See great meta by @itumpysk.

https://istumpysk.tumblr.com/post/615957223588364288/find-sansas-husband

But if she DOES marry any guy then what is all the foreshadowing for? Ashford theory and a million Jonsa parallels and hints, amongst which my favourite: Janos Slynt beheading and Sansa’s crush on Ser Waymar. Are you gonna tell me that GRRM spent three decades of his life painstakingly writing these tiny details that mean NOTHING because she is gonna marry a...Jon Doe? 🤣🤣

I mean the man wrote a freaking family tree with a Jonnel and Sansa marriage.

Well, you know, Jonsa might not happen or George might never finish the books, but I cannot wrap my head around the idea that all that foreshadowing, that R+L=J,

 _the cloak of blood and fire, glory to your betrothed, he’s the dragon’s heir_ , mean nothing.

Oh. And the Jonnel and Sansa marriage it’s just a coincidence.

Thoughts?


End file.
